San Marcos girls water polo opened the CIF-SS Open Division Playoffs with a 15-14 overtime victory over Orange Lutheran on Wednesday at Santiago Canyon College.
The Royals, who are the No. 4 seed in the bracket, will now take on top-seeded Mater Dei on the road on Saturday at 5 p.m. as they continue pool play.
“I’m super proud of my team today. They showed true resiliency,” San Marcos head coach Chuckie Roth said. “We got better defensively as the game went on. We managed a lot of adversity and found a way to be successful as a team.
“I’m really happy for them. This puts us in a great position in our pool play. Tonight was a great moment.”
Orange Lutheran had a chance to score and steal the win in the final seconds of regulation, but San Marcos’ McKenna Stuart came up with a clutch save to send the game into overtime tied at 13-13.
In the first overtime period, the Royals’ defense stood tall and held Orange Lutheran scoreless while Jade Pattison and Shea Estabrook each scored to take a 15-13 lead into the second overtime.
Orange Lutheran answered with a goal of its own, but San Marcos held onto the one-goal lead until the final whistle sounded to secure the win.
It was a back-and-forth affair throughout, as the two teams were knotted at 6-6 after the first quarter and 10-10 heading into halftime.
The Royals struggled in the third quarter and fell behind 12-10 with one quarter to play, but they battled back to tie it up late in the fourth and send the game into overtime.